Category: 21st Century

The security landscape in the 21st century differs immensely from that of the 20th, I entered the world of security and risk management 22 years ago during a time where the view of security was the stereotypical ex-military/ex-police staff who were believed to be the font of all knowledge because of the “vast experience” that they had developed during their careers. Over time it has changed and my view has changed with it, the current security field requires a new type of security and risk manager, these professionals need to have the skills, experience, and knowledge to develop and instigate a security risk management strategy that not only makes sense to the business but offers the right level of resilience across the entire organization.

The major threat to security within the UK during the 20th century has been acknowledged to be principally based around the idea that the major threat to the corporate environment was that terrorism be it home-grown (in the case of the UK usually the republican or loyalist) or on the rare occasion, foreign-related was the major risk. In the US it was the protection against the theft of company assets and the prevention of labor issues until the latter part of the century when after 9/11 terrorism became the focus of many corporate security risk managers in the country. As we have moved into the 21st century the threat to security has massively diversified, “the underlying drivers of insecurity create both physical and cyber risk. And, indeed, the two kinds of risks are converging” (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2017).

Doing business in the 21st century is getting more and more complicated; globalization has changed how the corporate life is now being lived, during the 20th-century corporations could comfortably build a significant empire in which to operate without too much interference from, or reliance on other organizations, this led to the creation of the global organizations that we see today such as IBM, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft and the like. In the latter part of the 20th century we started to see the development of the worldwide web into a place where commerce was being done as opposed to being used for the transfer of academic knowledge, this, in turn, has meant that interrupter organizations such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba have grown over the last 20 years to become global behemoths operating in every aspect of life. This rapid interconnected growth of the global IT-based companies’ in comparison to the slow organic growth of the traditional industrial type organizations brings with it a vast amount of complex potential crises, that even a well thought out and properly delivered security program will be unable to fully protect a truly global organization from.

One needs to only look at the Covid-19 Pandemic and the resulting issues worldwide around PPE and the provision of IT equipment globally to see this. Whilst addressing these concerns are not normally seen as the remit of the security team, these are things that need to be taken into account as the causes of potential crises are becoming more varied due to the effects of true globalization of companies. In fact, in 2017 companies were reporting that they believed that the top eight biggest root causes of insecurity within the next five years would be Political or ideological differences within countries or across international boundaries, Poverty/High levels of income equality, Scarcity of key resources, Low levels of education, Hostility to globalization, Disruption to migration flows, Pollution/Environmental degradation and finally Widespread human rights violations (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2017). Now, these are not those risks or crises that would have ever been associated with 20th-century security and risk management, however, as the world inches ever closer to true globalization these are factors that must be addressed as potential flashpoints for companies to deal with. After all, if you are truly a global player and one element of your workforce discovers that they are on much less than another part of the organization whilst doing similar roles the company can expect workplace strife which could potentially undermine their ability to function or deliver their products to market. Another issue that will be likely to impact a truly global organization is the global environmental degradation mentioned in the Economist Intelligence Unit report of 2017. As the world continues to warm the climate change issue is becoming even more decisive and important. The flooding of major cities is something that is becoming more prevalent, cities such as Paris, London, Dublin, Rome which were all built on major rivers for good commercial and connectivity reasons now find themselves in peril of major flooding, and the first, second and third-order effects that this flooding brings with it. Therefore, any corporate body located within these types of the city needs to ensure that this is a major part of their security and resilience strategy or face the potential issues and crises that their lack of planning and coherent planning may bring if such flooding took place.

The integration into the cyber domain to which any global organization needs to be connected to function is something that the security manager of the early 20th century would not have even considered as part of their remit, and until recently would have still sat within the IT team rather than within a dedicated or joint security environment.

In the modern media age with 24-hour news and constant access to news outlets via the internet, it is very difficult to see how any organization can attempt to “hide” any dealing of a crisis, and those that do are often caught out by the media, a good example of this is the TalkTalk breach in 2015. Where despite knowing that they had been hacked TalkTalk failed to inform some 4,545 customers that their personal details were considered compromised and it was only through an investigation by a BBC consumer show that these were identified (Ashford, 2019). The damage reputationally and financially to TalkTalk is still being felt including a significant fine by the Information Commissioners Office in the UK of £400,000 one of the highest ever awarded by the ICO. This illustrates that whilst companies cannot legislate for all eventualities they should at least have considered the majority and have established a playbook by which to deal with either foreseen or unforeseen serious incidents before they become a crisis from which they may or may not recover.

In conclusion, the role of the 21st-century security and risk manager has changed dramatically over the last 100 years and continues to develop further, that said the role hasn’t changed so dramatically that the first security managers in organizations like Pinkerton’s, Chubb, and the Corps of Commissionaires would not recognize it, the original principles of physical security, personnel security and more latterly document security are still very much present. What has changed is the way that this is done, through the use of better technology and the like, the changes that will be totally unexpected by those pioneers of security in the 20th century is the way that security is now not just one team’s problem or even seen as the dirty secret that no one at the board level wanted to sully themselves with, but is a senior-level issue with which senior members of the board need to be fully engaged with and understand that the challenge for corporate security is no different from that for any function.

Imagine being treated like an object instead of a human and being forced to do things that you don’t want to do and the people that hold power won’t do anything to help you because of your skin color. “Get Out” provides a sense of imagery that slavery in America is still around in modern times and that African Americans are seen as objects rather than people. The main character, Chris, is an African American with a Caucasian girlfriend named Rose. Chris and Rose have been dating for a few months and for the first time, Chris is going to meet her family. Upon arrival at the estate, Chris immediately notices that the house looks like a plantation home and that there are African Americans working for Rose’s all-white family. Throughout the movie, Chris finds himself talking alone with the other African American characters in multiple scenes where he then pieces together that something isn’t right with their personalities. He then comes to realize that the other African Americans have been mentally and physically enslaved by the elderly white people in Rose’s family. These elderly white people have been buying and selling African Americans to hypnotize them into the sunken place and then take over their bodies while they are helpless by putting their brains in the African American bodies for their own good. Jordan Peele, the director of the movie, portrays the struggle of African Americans in society throughout American history by using the image of slavery in certain scenes to represent white supremacy in the 21st century.

The setting of the movie gives off a very uncomfortable feeling as soon as Chris and Rose arrive at the house. The house is in the middle of the woods, far away from the rest of society with big farming fields. The estate house that Rose’s family lives in looks exactly how a plantation home would around the 15th century when the slave trade and owning slaves was a major conflict. Even though this story is set in modern times, when they arrive at the house, the setting seems like it changes for the viewers as if the characters are in a different era when slavery was legal. The main characters in the movie also give the audience a very unusual feeling that something suspicious is happening. First, the only other African Americans in the movie are working for the white family. As soon as Chris notices that, Rose’s dad, Dean, tells Chris “I know it looks bad, white landowners and black workers. But we’re not racist and it’s not what you think” (Jasmine 2017). Chris then notices that the African American characters are wearing old southern looking clothes and speak like elderly southern white people do which is suspicious to him because he knows they aren’t acting like the stereotypical African American that he expects them to. One of the sources states that “The way that the characters are dressed is not contemporary and the old-fashioned etiquette and setting feels both familiar and unsettling. This becomes especially true when we learn that there are two African Americans working on the house grounds. This is a direct reference to slavery” (Jasmine 2017). There is also another direct reference to slavery towards the end of the movie when Rose’s family is hosting a silent auction in the backyard to see who purchases Chris’s body. Slavery, by definition, is the “condition in which one human being was owned by another. A slave was considered by law as property, or chattel, and was deprived of most of the rights ordinarily held by free persons” (Hellie 2019).

This scene literally represents silent slave auctions from the past because it is white people purchasing an African American. “Get Out” shows white supremacy in modern times in multiple scenes throughout the movie. The white family hypnotizes and sends the African Americans to the “Sunken Place” without permission from the African Americans and treats them all like puppets. While the African American is in the sunken place, they are completely helpless in the real world, and the white family can then perform brain surgery to put the elderly white person’s brain in the African American body. According to the director himself, “The sunken place means we’re marginalized. No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us.” (Peele 2017). This means that in modern times, all lower-class citizens or minorities under the white upper class are slaves to the government in some way and are completely helpless. One thing that is different about the movie from real-life slavery is that the white family wants the African Americans only for their bodies not for them to do forced labor for them. One of the secondary sources explains that “the father takes the consciousness of an elderly white person and puts it into the body of an African American. All of the microaggressions Chris faced revolved around his bodies act as a direct reference to the way society views black bodies as sexually viable, athletic, capable, and exotic” (Jasmine 2017). It almost seems like the African American people are being admired by the elderly white family in a creepy way because the old white people are so fond of their physical features and abilities that they want to have it for themselves. A different secondary source states that “Part of the reason is that they’re seen as disposable, but it’s also because the white thieves consider Black bodies physically superior when “Black muscle’ can be useful if separated from its Black mind, emotions, and politics” (Thrasher 2018). This author agrees that white people will do whatever they can to become the superior person in society. So, them being the typical “white supremacists”, they do what they want to because they know the system will be on their side because of their skin color. They believe if they mix the black body with the white mind that they’ll make a superior person. So, when they were having the silent auction in the field, they were auctioning off Chris’ body and not actually him. The white people in the movie treated the African Americans like objects rather than people

The movie “Get Out” displays the struggle that African Americans in society have gone through in history and how slavery scenes are shown throughout the movie represents how racism and white supremacy are still around in modern times. In a way, this movie also shows how the system always figures out ways to cover it up and blame the lower class for their problems. Even though slavery was abolished over one hundred and fifty years ago, there are still some forms of it in the present and this movie does a good job explaining how African Americans are treated in society. From the setting, the characters, and the actual plot of the story, this movie as a whole portrays different ways slavery is represented in the 21st century. Scenes from the movie such as the silent auction and African American people working for white people on the farm and around the house can easily allow the audience to assume modern slavery is one of the main points that Jordan Peele is trying to spread to his viewers. This movie also shows forms of slavery by the white family buying and selling the bodies of African Americans without them having the right to say no. These white people want the black bodies for their own good so that they can be the superior person. Overall, this is a movie that will go down in African American history. In conclusion, slavery is one of the worst things to ever happen in history and it needs to come to an end because nobody is superior over the other based on their skin color.

Introduction

Feminism seeks to create equity in the social and cultural constructs that perceive the female gender as being inferior to their male counterparts. In the 21st Century, feminists have involved in the fight for equality, not only in the family setup but also in society. A strive for gender equality, hence, exists, with constant improvements being made to eradicate the usurpation of women by men. Intervention by the feminist movements, therefore, seeks to fight for the right of women in social aspects such as work since the women seek equal rights for them to validate their productiveness. Feminists also sensitize women on their attitudes towards work, and this is because women are supposed to strike a balance between professional work and taking care of the family. The feminists seek to enact laws that protect them against sexual harassment, under-representation in political scenes, and also the freedom of choices in issues such as abortion and pregnancy. This paper seeks to evaluate the role of feminism in the 21st Century and highlight the achievements of feminists in the 21st Century as they change the construction of society to accommodate women and take care of the equality of the rights of women in different contexts.

Literature review

Various scholars are involved in the study of the concept of feminism concerning its role in the 21st Century. According to (Millner, Moore & Cole,144), the feminist definition should get interrogated to ascertain whether it is of a broader aspect touching on the issue of validation of women’s individualism, which is mistaken for the fight for equal rights. The scholar justifies this claim by mentioning that the last 40 years of the 21st Century have witnessed many ideological

positions that get analyzed for their effectiveness, and this involves distinguishing between the feminist beliefs and separating them from notions of feminism as a cultural movement. Feminists are driven into activism by the conditions in the society, such as the current trends, which include the women under-representation in positions of power. According to (Hatef,2), feminism gets politicized, and such takes the form of media coverage of female politicians. Media influences the perceptions of the public based on the concepts covered. The media representations of feminist icons and role models create a politicization of the issue. This aspect is such that the public description of feminism makes the underrepresented of women in political roles evident and hence creates a political turmoil resulting from the revolt by feminists. Such media includes TV shows which portray controversial messages about feminism and the opposition of male dominance.

A study of the representation of various concepts from the media results in the challenge of the existing power structures in the society by the feminists in pursuit of their fight for equality. The history of feminism is one that is achievable through the study of the cultural beliefs on the construction of the society such that the community was an oppressive one. Hence, according to (McCarver, 22), the repression of the women made them pursue individual efforts to eliminate the barrier of oppression that faced them. Another scholar (Hirshman,27) provides a different account of feminism such that the scholar mentions that feminism is a result of feminist liberalization, which seeks to reduce the isolation of mothers and to create a strong base for women. The scholar, (Ferguson, 250) provides a different version of feminism by mentioning that feminism originates from a passion for making feminism appeal accessible to as many women as possible. This appeal is intended to attract women who view the political and social practices as one that includes them from participation and one that is judgmental based on gender. The attraction of many women into the feminism affiliation is possible since many aspects of the society are judgmental towards women, depicted by such attributes as under-representation of women in the political docket, and hence this claim is justifiable.

Role of feminism on abortion and pregnancy in the 21st Century

Feminism largely influences the issue of pregnancy and abortion in the 21st Century since women are involved in both. The women in the 21st Century take advantage of feminism such that they use the feminist approach to validate their decision-making when it comes to issues such as abortion and pregnancy. Women have found freedom in the choice of deciding on these aspects in the 21st Century with or without the involvement of men. The feminist perspective of equal rights guarantees that women enjoy the benefit of individual decision-making since women have a significant contribution to decisions involving pregnancy, abortion, and family matters involving motherhood. The abortion debate hence raises a controversy as to whether the legalization of abortion is dependent upon a choice by an individual’s right or whether the abortion is one that depends upon the decision made by an individual.

Feminism, hence, arises several issues that extend beyond the aspect of abortion. Such problems include the preference of formula over breastfeeding, screening of the women in the post-natal state, and also childcare. Women hence have the liberty to choose the best techniques that they prefer based on their experiences on the use of these techniques or even on the experiences of the other women. This freedom of choice results from the feminist perspective of the right of autonomous decision-making capability. Feminism, therefore, plays a significant role in ensuring that women celebrate and take pride in their freedom of decision-making in issues regarding children and family in the 21st Century.

Role of feminism on women working professionally in the 21st Century

Women in the 21st Century are no longer get perceived as caretakers of the families. Still, they are also entrusted with the economic value of the generation of money to propel the family forward. This success of women in the working environment is guaranteed by feminism, which ensures the rights of the women to work are respected. According to (Greenfield, 36), women’s rights and freedom of choice get based on gender equality, and feminism seeks to protect these factors. Women are allowed to make a choice on their job and career aspirations as they try to find an income to sustain their families based on the feminist option of equal rights of employment and job pursuing. The demands of both the job environment and the family hence act as a stumbling block to the coordination of the two by the women, and therefore this is taken care of by the women’s balance of the two concepts. The women face a situation where the family could easily break due to the limited capacity of the woman to satisfy both the job and family matters and also on being labeled by society as being a bad mother.

The exclusion of women from the working environment seeks to justify the low probability of taking care of work and the family as well. Still, feminists in the 21st Century have changed this perception by the advocacy of rights of women to equal employment opportunities as their male counterparts. Hence, equality guarantees that the women make their choices based on their individual preferences of work, and they make this decision based on their capability to handle both the family matters and the work matters as well. Feminism also has advocated for non-discrimination in the job sector in the 21st Century by lifting the labels of gender-specific work and allowing the work to be pursued based on choice and passion.

Role of feminism in sexuality in the 21st Century

Feminists fight for the rights of women on matters regarding the sexuality of women in the 21st Century. The women face discrimination in their places of work. Hence, this calls for the intervention by lawmakers for the enactment of laws that protect women against harassment based on gender and also on other aspects such as race and religious affiliation. Feminists define sexual harassment as any practice that degrades women, from derogatory speech to sexual assault in the form of rape. Feminists fight for the rights of women from sexual harassment, especially in places of work since, in the 21st Century, workplaces have an almost equal representation of men and women. The women face sexual abuse from the men at the places of work, which threaten them with firing, and this intimidates the women into bowing to pressure and accepting the sexual advances. According to (Mousli & Roustang-Stoller, 108), the abuse that women face in their places of work results in self-doubt in the victim on how the society shall perceive them after they blow the whistle. Several questions get mentioned that the victims ask themselves, such as the desire for the victim to get the job driving them into sexual exploitation, the question as to whether the society shall view the victim negatively after that. Another problematic issue to the victim is if the victim allowed for the victimizer to perform the vice unto them, and the question is if the society shall perceive the victim as the one who agreed to the abuse. This fact makes the majority of the victims silent over mistreatment issues for decades. Feminists, therefore, play a pivotal role in eradicating sexual harassment in the workplace and also in society through setting up civil rights to sexual harassment and informing the women on due legal procedures to undertake in case of sexual abuse.

Conclusion

Feminism has played a significant role in the 21st Century by shaping up society’s perceptions of women regarding their ability to access equal rights with their male counterparts. The feminist movements of the 21st Century seek to enact policies that protect women’s rights since feminists expose discrimination and find solutions for the affected people. Feminists in the 21st Century have been successful in their quest for equality in the workplace such that men and women work in coordination with each other. Hence, both genders have equal rights in issues of work based on flexibility, which takes care of the interests of these people. In the 21st Century, the equal representation of women in the positions of political powers is also part of the success since society is now allowing women to assume positions of leadership and allowing them to come up with policies that pertain to social issues. The women, therefore, can enjoy rights such as individual decision-making on sensitive matters that relate to their involvement, such as abortion and family issues. Thus, the feminist’s advocacy for the right to make these choices ensures that the women make a decision that best satisfies them. This advocacy ensures that the oppression that they initially faced is lifted off, and hence the women can enjoy these benefits such as freedom from employment discrimination. Thus, the involvement of women in the issues that improve the situation of the families ensures that feminism is a decisive factor in society. However, toxic feminism should get condemned since it tries to revert the situation and inflict torment on the men.

Rationale

Advances in medical technology has had countless positive impacts on the health and wellbeing of humans. In fact, life expectancies have more than doubled, with a predicted age of 30 in the 1900s rising to approximately 70 years in the 21st century (Rosser, 2015). The eradication and prevention of cases and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as small pox, influenza, measles, etc. heavily contributed to that increase.

However, a lack of knowledge and general fear cause many controversies to surround our current medical practices. Vaccination is a major concern in society as the fear of disease has shifted to a fear of disease prevention. And although these vaccination practices have ultimately caused a 96% decrease in death from infectious diseases in the last 100 years (AIHW, 2006), parents and some of the medical community continue to encourage this knowledge deficit in the form of a rapidly disseminating sentiment known formerly as the ‘Anti- Vax’ movement.

Dubé (et al, 2014) states that although immunization is widely accepted globally, the most recent infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics have been prevented with the use of vaccinations. Her article roughly discusses the proportion of immunity toward common diseases in relation to the use of vaccination. Therefore, the research question, “What are the impacts of the Anti-Vax movement on the immunity of diseases?” was formed to coincide with the claim and preliminary research. However, with further investigation it was determined that that question was too broad and thus was refined and specified to consider the immunity of the ‘Morbillivirus measles virus’ (measles) as explicated below.

Measles is an extremely contagious disease and although immunity of this disease can be achieved through 1-2 doses of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine, long term immunity on a global scale must be achieved through ‘herd immunity’ (Funk, 2017). To properly protect from this communicable disease, a 95% minimum of vaccinated population (with MMR vaccine) must be reached (Australian Government Department of Health, 2019). A smaller percentage of vaccinated peoples enable the disease to spread more rapidly and, therefore, a greater number of people would be infected- causing outbreaks. This also puts people who can’t receive the vaccine in great risk as they will be exposed and due to its highly contagious nature, would almost certainly contract the disease.

Background

Like most common viruses, such as Influenza and Chickenpox, measles is an airborne virus, meaning it is spread though coughing, sneezing, etc. This ultimately means that it is highly contagious, with 90% of non-immunized people who come into contact contracting the disease (CDC, 2018). When measles is contracted, generally only acute symptoms such as small white spots (Kopliks spots), fevers and runny nose occur. The addition of these acute symptoms and the fact that once you develop and get over Measle- you are immune, causes parents to be hesitant and choose not to allow their child to get the MMR vaccine. However, complications can happen. Inflammation of the respiratory system (bronchitis, laryngitis) and in extreme cases inflammation of the brain (Encephalitis). Pneumonia is a common complication of measles, with 1 in 20 contacting pneumonia and is the most common cause of death by measles. In addition to this, the disease suppresses the immune system for up to years while they are recovering from measles- making them more susceptible to other infectious diseases (Oxford, 2019).

The MMR vaccine works by injecting weakened forms of living Measles, Mumps and Rubella into the body. This causes the immune system to produce antibodies to remember the virus and quickly fight it if ever encounters it again, also causing it to not become contagious or cause symptoms (CDC, 2019). he first dose of MMR causes a 93% immunity against measles; however, a second dose is recommended to increase this immunity to 97% (CDC, 2019).

So, the question lies- why do people not vaccinate their children? Exclusive of poverty, allergies, fears of chemicals and the refuted article by Andrew Wakefield (Rao et al, 2011) linking MMR vaccine to Autism, a major contributor to the anti- vax movement is the belief that infectious diseases such as measles don’t or barely exist today. A lack of frequency of measles news cause global complacence, despite the disease causing over 100,000 deaths yearly (Meyerowitz-Katz, 2019).

As stated previously, herd immunity is a crucial factor linking vaccination to long- term immunity. It is the concept that as the percentage of vaccinated (and therefore immune) people increase, the reach of disease spread is limited and therefore reduces outbreaks and protects any who cannot receive vaccination due to age restriction, allergies, etc. (Watson, 2018). Hence, herd immunity is in direct proportion to long term immunity.

Evidence

The MMR vaccine has proved highly effective since its introduction in 1968. As seen in figure 1, there was a significant decrease in reported measles cases instantly after its first year, with an estimated case number of 900 000 reducing to 250 000 (Hendriks et al, 2013). Not only was the first introduction of MMR successful, but its individual effectiveness on patients shows the efficiency of the vaccine and its vast development over the years.

Although opposition to MMR vaccinations have been found since the vaccination’s introduction in the 1960s, the true Anti- Vax movement began with the surge of the internet- where filtered conversations of bias fuels false information and prejudiced opinions. It is clear in figure 1 that this time was approximately 2010, and in addition to the links made between MMR vaccine and Autism, a rise in reported measles cases occurred- causing a medical regression.

In 2014, an incident occurred in Disneyland that caused 52 reported measles cases (Palmer, 2015). This occurrence is an example of the negative impacts of not vaccinating, as these 52 cases would result in a large spike in number of reported cases for that year. As shown in figure 2, the number of cases rises from an approximate 100 to 644. Predictably stemming from the spread founded in Disneyland.

This incident also proves the importance of herd immunity worldwide as international travel currently poses as an immense risk by connecting, and therfore spreading, across all countries and communities, causing a need of worldwide vaccination. Because measles is so highly transmissible, in addition to its extended allowance of communication, herd immunity is the only way to effectively prevent outbreaks and epidemics. The 95% of population vaccinated target allows children too young, allergies and religious reasoning to be excluded. Although this number causes an increase in the casualty of not vaccinating because it justifies a belief that people can opt out of the vaccination process- despite the impacts of reduced vaccination on vulnerable people such as children, allergic and religious.

Currently, measles is experiencing another outbreak- with severe and prolonged effects. This outbreak has been occurring and rising in the last few years, with a steady rise in reported cases, as shown in Figure 1. The number of reported measles cases has almost doubled from the recorded number this time in 2018 (WHO, 2019). This recent surge has spread to 182 countries and proves to be a great risk and destroys the former belief that measles spread was locally eliminated (seen in Figure 1) (ECDC, 2019).

Evaluation

Although several issues are apparent within this data. The use of government and medical sites, such as Australian government- Department of Health and Centre for Disease Control (CDC), aimed to increase the credibility of data and provide accurate and precise results. However, since these websites encourage and support vaccination practices, they are most likely biased. This means that they may have only shown data that was relevant to their opinions and withheld information that was crucial to the anti- vax point of view. Thus, the data may be less credible because of this.

The year some articles have been published may also be cause for concern as, while most are within the last 5 years, some date back to the late 90s and therefore reliability is reduced. Although the data within these articles ae relevant, their statistics and facts may have been disproved and ultimately causing errors within the conclusions drawn. However, any information collected from these outdated sites are most likely from investigations taken at that time.

A major issue noticed within the collected data was clear variances between results. Several sites debate the year of MMR vaccine introduction and figures like Figure 1 display different numbers in decrease and increase per year. Locating a graph from a credible source and ensuring its credibility with the data collected will have increased the reliability of this data source, however that is still recognized as a minor error and creates a limitation for the evidence.

It should also be noted that the MMR vaccine is a combination vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) and therefore the data shown cannot account for the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine for the other two diseases. This creates a limitation in the evidence as the conclusions drawn include the lack of risks for the vaccine and its high efficacy to protect against disease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the claim that controversies surround vaccination and relate to short- and long-term immunity is not fully proved by the research question as it is so broad that the it can only incorporate a fraction of it. However, the created question relating the Anti- Vax movement to an increase in measles cases is supported by copious amounts of data and shows that the Anti- Vax movement is in direct proportion to the number of measles cases due to their relationship with herd immunity and thus the prevention and protection of measles. However, within all collected data, the most relevant sites were government sites which are most likely biased toward encouraging vaccination and therefore may not have been entirely credible. Although even considering this, the same conclusions can be drawn.

One of the biggest arguments today is whether or not poetry is relevant in the 21st century. Many people believe that poetry is not relevant to the current generation and therefore should not be taught at school. However, poetry is important for various reasons, which allow it to be relevant to the modern era.

Firstly, most poetry was written long before the 21st century. These poems are about life before this time. Poetry often addresses historic problems and grizzled experiences that are not faced by the current generation. For example in Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead by William Shakespeare, depicts the struggles of a man who was not able to be loved openly in public by his male lover because homosexuality was rejected by society. As members of modern society, we no longer have to deal with such large forms of gender and race discrimination. In modern times it is possible to achieve your goals and ambitions, as society does not hinder you because of your gender, age, race, or sexuality. Poetry from before the 20th century no longer applies to our modern generation because the main problems and strife are no longer being faced. The many conflicts of the past cannot be changed and so they are irrelevant to the present and future of modern society

Although the past is over and we no longer have to encounter the old problems, the past teaches us many mistakes so that we can learn from them. The poem Love’s farewell by Michael Drayton illustrates common problems that were faced in many relationships. These problems are much the same in the modern era and so by looking at poems they may teach us things in order to better the way we live. A famous quote from The Lion King says ‘Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.’ History allows us to learn from mankind’s mistakes to ensure that they will not be repeated. The poetry of older times teaches us our history and allows us to gain a perspective of how it would be to relive old problems. In this way, we are able to learn in order to create a better future.

Many poems use complex English with difficult terms to understand. Often older forms of English feature in these poems such as the sonnets of William Shakespeare and Michael Drayton. This language is quite difficult for youth to understand, as many of the terms and phrases used by the older poets are not the type of language that is used in modern-day English. Because the language of many poems is no longer used, it makes the poems irrelevant to the current generation.

However, using older language can teach learners where certain terms come from. These older forms of English are the beginning of the language we use today and so began to form many of the terms and phrases we use in the 21st century. Many of the words used by people of the modern era were, invented by William Shakespeare. Words such as; compromise, worthless, tranquil, impartial, obscene, and many more. Without the older poets, we would not have the language we use today and so this creates relevance for the language of poetry.

In conclusion, poetry deals with events of the past. Although it teaches us much, it ultimately shows that it is not relevant to the learners of the modern era. This thus concludes that poetry is not relevant in the 21st century.

Prima facie, technology has always played a key role in the lives of humankind, and people have been revolutionizing technology since primitive times. Thereby, the aim and motive of my essay are to explore the areas of advancement, to differentiate the technology of the 21st century and that of primitive times, and to make people aware that how their lives revolve around technology. Moreover, I would be covering the significant facts and figures regarding how technology has provided ease in our everyday lives and how the contemporary world is globalized due to the revolution in technology.

To begin with, technology has boosted one’s social, personal, and academic lives by introducing smart gadgets such as Android and iOS, unlike primitive times when postal letters and stamps were a common medium of exchanging information. Technology now has paved the way for the dawn of social mediums such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many more, which allows one to communicate and socialize in far-end zones. Moreover, PCs, laptops, and tablets have become a ‘constant’ through which modern education is being imparted to students of all levels in a more efficient and reliable way in almost all well-reputed institutions. In fact, in the past, it was customary to go out in search of a job or to arrange for a physical medium to start up entrepreneurship, and now technology has provided ease for humankind by introducing non-traditional working mediums such as blogging, vlogging, online mentoring, e-commerce, online businesses through eBay, souq.com, OLX, edX, and so on. Henceforth, I may add a quote here by George Couros: “Technology is not just a tool. It can give learners a voice that they may not have had before!”.

Furthermore, the roots of technology in economic, political, and health departments are as vivid as they are in social, personal, and academic measures of one’s life. So, talking about the second perspective of my research analysis, gone are the days when men had to travel by domestic animals, carts, and wooden boats and the risks throughout the whole journey were enormous. Now, traveling to far-end corners of the world is nothing but fun. For instance, durable automobiles are a common source of travel in urban areas, capable of touring throughout the metropolitan areas within a country with much ease and comfort, coupled with air travel that has facilitated humanity to travel to far-end continents of the world within a few hours or so. In the same fashion, the first world countries have been exploiting the convenience in the transportation sector through bullet trains, enabling one to reach the destination within an hour or so. Hans Christian, once quoted, “To travel is to live!”, which means 21st-century technology allows you to live at full, which you never had before. Besides, the integration of a balanced country’s economy, stoke exchange rates, foreign trades, GNP, GDP, and per annum budget is being sorted out in the form of data files, storing the data of 100,000,000 terabytes in small, portable systems, saving both the time and the men work. Similarly, the health sector has also been monetized with the revolution of biotechnology. In the past, tons of illnesses such as tuberculosis, thyroid disease, cancer, hepatitis, and sarcoidosis weren’t even detectable due to a lack of resources, and even if they got recognized, there was no medium to cure the disease. However, nowadays, hospitals are equipped with MRI scanners, radioactive devices, and sound- and heat-sensitive detectors capable of detecting minor and major illnesses.

Despite the wonders of 21st-century technology, it also has certain limitations. Firstly, sports and recreational activities among teens have been diminished since they prioritize playing video games. Secondly, nowadays, all sort of physical work is being carried out through machines and other technology-based mechanical means, hence the employment rate among the labor has lessened. Thirdly, technology such as social media is the medium where folks waste a lot of time by scrolling down the feed back and forth, therefore ending up being tired and lazy without having done anything conversely. Last but not least, numerous crimes such as cyberbullying, online hacking, and money scamming are done online, which is pretty common these days.

Now, I may conclude that in the 21st century, we are enslaved by technology and somehow we are utilizing technology without even recognizing that we are doing so. Undoubtedly, technology has scattered in each and every sphere of life. If we use it for the betterment of mankind, then it is more than welcome. On the contrary, technology could be a source of destruction, if one implements it for false purposes. In the end, I would like to quote Christian Lous Lange who said: “Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master!”. So, it depends on humanity, whether it flourishes through technology or it ends up being destroyed.

Homosexuality is the sexual and romantic attraction of one sex from another. In almost most religions, homosexuality has been described as heresy and evil. Pompei, who is mentioned in all three major religions, is an example. Homosexuality is still characterized by conservative fronts as a harbinger of perversion and apocalypse, and homosexuals are ostracized by society. But in recent years some countries have liberalized, for example, the Netherlands or the United States. It would be more correct to say that the influence of religions is decreasing in the West. Even the Catholic Pope Francis declared that they no longer characterize homosexuality as heresy.

On these, I still find it absurd to characterize homosexuality as heresy. We are in the 21st century, and the world is becoming more and more free. Of course, people may continue to believe in their religion, but that doesn’t mean they can interfere with someone else’s gender, sexual orientation, religion, language, and race. In my opinion, religion is something that a person should live in himself. Just as anyone’s religion is not interfered with, their sexual orientation should not be interfered with. What makes society a society is that people remain respectful despite differences. Otherwise, we are no different from those who are simply robotized people.

There are also some scientists who say that homosexuality is a hormonal disorder, but I haven’t seen any scientific evidence to support this. In a video I watched, hormone drugs were tried to correct some homosexuals but had no effect. By nature, that man or woman was homosexual. The orientation of those people did not change, despite the hormone supplements. Again, homosexuality could be seen in some animals in a video I watched. Again, some changes in the behavior of those animals upon experiments. So, we cannot say for sure that this is called a hormonal disorder because they are an orientation, and we should not hold anyone responsible for their orientation.

But I am against the immoral movements made in the LGBT pride marches under the name of freedom. Because when freedom reaches a level that will disturb someone else, it starts to cause problems. Of course, it needs to defend the rights of homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. But they can protest as they wish in the moral framework. Because we have a code of ethics, and I think they have to be followed.

As a result, in the 21st century, more than ever, we must respect people as human beings. Sexual orientation, gender, religion, language, race, and lifestyle are individual values. Either of them can have a female or a male or another gender.

To break things down first, we need to understand what the word leader means and know where it came from. According to Jia Lin, leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline. Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation of trust results in folly. Helplessness on the power of courage results in inhumanity. Extreme discipline and disapproving rules result in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader. Therefore, a leader is a person who builds skills in a specific team or area of work. They are able to direct other participants in building certain skills to help them gain knowledge as well.

What arises in the process of developing a leader of the 21st century? Via making intelligent movements and establishing new relationships with one another and making a massive leader of the 21st century in between, taking such bazaar risks. Not many of the representatives have proper leadership attributes that make them great leaders. Other leadership qualities that can make leaders successful may include self-awareness, good listening abilities, good communication skills, and the ability to make people trust them. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses will make it easier for the leader to accept someone else’s thoughts. It’s a must for a leader to be extremely realistic, and they can never want to give out the wrong information. That impacts him.

There’s been a mind-blowing shift in the way we view leaders today compared to the past. For example, Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ argues that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved. At that time, leaders would only qualify to be leaders by having power and control over everyone. We wouldn’t question leaders years ago. So, the best way to determine how a person should become a leader is by establishing heavy objectives which a person that is trying to become a leader has to go through. The objectives would involve camping, for example, gathering up a group of individuals and the person who is willing to become a leader leads them, and after the group goes online to do a reflection on him of what they learned and how satisfied they were.

After all, it is easier now to become a leader compared to before, which is easy, there’s no such thing as picking someone because of their money, color, or power. Skills, knowledge, and confidence are mostly all you need.

A single country faces many challenges in the wake of trying to establish or maintain international and internal peace and popularity. These challenges determine the very economic, social, and international structure of the country. The decision made by a government on how to take on such challenges can either devastate or benefit a country and determine the continuity of a leader’s rule. One such country that faces many critical challenges in the wake of the 21st century is Canada as current issues have begun to grow and new issues have been shed into the light. The greatest challenges imposed upon Canada in the 21st century is Canada’s great economic and political dependence on its neighboring country the United States that which Canada has begun to fight against, the growing threat global warming poses on the environment that Canada can not seemingly stop, and Canada’s inefficient health care system for the growing elderly population that Canada is moving towards reforming.

Canada’s dependence on the U.S putting the country at risk of it being influenced by the superpower has always been a concern of Canada since the two countries first began cooperating together. Canada has always had to step lightly around Its large neighboring state the U.S, this relation was best illustrated by Pierre Trudeau in 1969 as Prime Minister of Canada:

Let me say that it should not be surprising if these policies in many instances either affect or take into account the proximity of the United Sates. Living next to you is like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast is, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.

Canada’s dependence on the U.S economically is one such factor that leaves Canada vulnerable to U.S influence and has become more prominent with the NAFTA reform. The very nature of international financial markets creates the economic pressures Canada feels from the U.S such as “when the U.S deregulated various transportation sectors, economic pressures mounted for Canada to do the Same (Stanbury 1988). These economic pressures to follow the U.S are one of Canada’s major challenges in the 21st century as Trump’s move to redefine NAFTO has forced Canada to suffer even greater dependence on the U.S economically.

The influence America has over Canada spreads further from the Canadian economy to Canada’s political climate. Unlike America’s effect on the Canadian economy, their influence is subtle and less aggressive “The mouse is not forced to react because of what the elephant is doing, but chooses to do so because it likes what the elephant is doing”. The 9/11 crisis in 2001 was one such event that illustrated Canada’s vulnerability to American political change. As the U.S hardened border security and added more trade security, Canada feared the loss of significant trade with America, and that the delays caused by the increased border security would cause investments in Canada and U.S to drop. As such this threatened the benefits of the free trade agreement and Canada took significant political steps to contour this “These included significant new investments by Canada in border security, and efforts to address US security concerns, starting with the December 2001 Canada–US Smart Border Declaration and Action Plan” (Crane 2005). This need to follow in America’s footsteps in political practices proves to be a major challenge for Canada in the 21st century as it leaves the country in constant fear of what the neighboring superpower will do and as American begins to institutionalize more independent policies leaving Canada to determine how to handle this new America. however, Canada has shown progression in this challenge by taking steps towards liberating itself from the U.S. Canada has begun to seek trade deals with countries such as Chine to lower their economic dependency on the U.S and create economic growth in many sectors but as Canada moves towards this goal America’s effect on Canadian politics is still prominent as America is pressuring Canada against going forward with these trade deals.

The effect humanity has on the environment has become a growing concern for society as global warming continuously worsens, as such the global community has taken steps towards correcting these negative effects. However, global warming and fatal environmental impacts have become more prominent in countries and pose a great risk to their populations such as Canada, making it one of the greatest challenges Canada is facing in the 21st century. Much of Canada’s landscape being at risk of being destroyed by global warming is a major factor in this issue, as forest fires and other environmental disasters are becoming more prominent in provinces such as British Colombia. Forest fires have been a clear example of the destructive power climate has over Canada as “Canadians watched with horror as the immense Fort McMurray fire of 2016 threatened the city. The Fort Mac fire caused the evacuation of almost 90,000 people and quickly became the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history, destroying 2400 buildings and causing about $10 billion in damage” (Climate Atlas). Although the Fort McMurray fire of 2016 may be assumed as an extreme example of forest fires, forest fires will grow in number and in size as illustrated by forest fire researcher Mike Flannigan who stated that more forest fires such as the Fort McMurray fire definitely expected for Canada. Thus, the increase in forest fires due to climate change proves to be a major challenge for Canada as “a team of researchers at the Canadian Forest Service analyzed the findings of almost 50 international studies on climate change and fire risk. They found that our future looks “smoky” because climate change will worsen” (Climate Atlas).

Air pollution has also become an environmental challenge for Canada as exposer to it has become a major health risk for Canadians. Air pollution’s negative effect on the Canadian populous not only increased the development of diseases such as asthma but has resulted in many Canadian deaths, “The Lancet report estimated that 7,142 deaths were attributable to air pollution, specifically particulate matter, in Canada in 2015. A November 2017 report from Health Canada put the annual figure a bit higher, at around 9,500.” (Young 2018). Due to air pollution’s mortality rate in Canada, it has become one of the major components of the environmental challenge Canada is facing in the 21st century. Although Canada has shown motivation towards improving its effect on the environment, climate change and the many causes of forest fires, such as lightning storms and dry air, leave Canada almost powerless in preventing further damage to their landscape. Similarly, Canada still remains one of the top greenhouse gases producers in the world, and “As Trump now ponders withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement, Smith said fear of more coal has grown. Even though Canada isn’t going down that road, ‘pollution knows no boundaries.’ Toronto, which has finally started to see its air pollution levels go down, would get hit if there is suddenly a ramping-up of coal production in the Ohio Valley” (The Canadian Press 2017).

The structure of Canada’s health care system has developed into a major problem for Canada as its changing population is presenting new demands and the existing system is failing to effectively care for Canadian citizens. This challenge has proven to be one of the greatest Canada is currently facing in the 21st century as “Health care is a service industry that exists to meet the needs of patients. However, the system is still stuck in a model from the past, in which providers made the rules and controlled all decisions. As societies evolve, citizens increasingly demand transparency and participation in decision-making. They also expect the system to respect their values and preferences and to facilitate access to health care services. Patients don’t care about silos within the system; they want to have access to seamless services that meet their physical and emotional needs.” (Muzyka, D. Hodgson, G. Prada, G. 2012). As the elderly population of Canada continuously grows their health care system must deal with the challenge of supporting the populous while not being designed to deal with the medical needs associated with elderly people. Much of “our system is centered on acute care, with few pathways for the treatment of many chronic illnesses or for “normal” healthy aging. The result can become a series of episodic interventions – even in-patient admissions – when other, less expensive services could be more effective.” leaving much of our elderly population dissatisfied with Canada’s healthcare system and at risk of having their conditions worsened as they are improperly cared for (Villeneuve, M. 2011). Thus, Canada’s inability to support the medical needs of their growing elderly population due to the outdated healthcare system is a large component of why the need for a reworked healthcare system has become one of the most critical challenges in the 21st century for Canada.

The Canadian healthcare’s inability to properly care for Canada’s growing elderly population is not the only factor contributing to making healthcare one of Canada’s biggest concerns in the 21st century, another major component is the medical facilities’ inability to accommodate all patients often leaving them with extremely long wait times. The healthcare’s “Delayed diagnosis and treatment can be devastating for individuals, their families, their employers, and those who rely on them. The disease might advance, potentially affecting treatment and outcomes, sometimes to the extent that, in some cases, effective treatment is impossible. That deterioration can also lead to complications, putting patients’ lives and well-being in jeopardy.” resulting in the need for Canada to redesign the healthcare system (Globerman, S. 2013). The negative effect of wait times for medical treatment caused by the structure of Canada’s healthcare system has become a major component as to why they need for a better healthcare system has become such a major issue in Canada in the 21st century. Although Canada’s healthcare system is a critical challenge to Canada moving on in the 21st century the country has been the award of their healthcare’s need for reform for decades and “Health care remains a top priority for Canadians after decades of debate, significant increases in public funding, and intermittent attempts at reform by jurisdictions across the country. A recent survey, conducted by EKOS for The Conference Board of Canada, indicated that 90 percent of Canadians believe that health care should be the main priority for national decision-makers, ahead of other important issues such as the economy and the environment.” (Muzyka, D. Hodgson, G. Prada, G. 2012). As such Canada has prepared plans to introduce new reforms to their healthcare system that better focuses on chronic diseases prevention and good end-of-life care for their growing elderly population, but still face the challenge of decreasing their wait times as many components of their system contribute to this fault.

Canada suffers from many challenges since the beginning of the 21st century, however, the most critical challenges are Canada’s great economic dependence on the neighboring superpower America, the growing threat global warming poses on the environment, and Canada’s inefficient health care system for the growing elderly population and general populous. Canada’s dependence on the U.S. is one of the most critical challenges for Canada as its economic and political structures are heavily affected by the actions taken by the U.S. on similar subjects. However, Canada stands ready to free itself from this dependence on America by establishing new trade deals with other countries such as Chine. Furthermore, the growing threat of global warming has proven to be one of the greatest challenges for Canada as the country fails to lower its pollution production resulting in an increase of diseases and deaths in its population, and the destructive effects forest fires have had on the Canadian landscape. As Canada stands it is not ready to face this environmental threat as much of it is not under the control of Canada and their neighboring country American moves to increase their use of coal energy that could worsen the air pollution of Canada. Similarly, Canada faces the major challenge of their health care system becoming inefficient as a growing elderly population remains unsatisfied and their citizens face worsening conditions as they remain untreated due to the health care system’s long wait times. However, Canadians have been concerned about their ineffective healthcare for decades and have prepared plans to better accommodate their growing elderly population.

Imagine yourself sitting in a fairly dark and crowded room. There are hundreds of seats occupied by people around you. A stage lies in front of you, filled with actors, lights, music, and different sound effects to set the mood of the play. A combination of these accommodations has let viewers grasp the performance actors have been portraying. However, it hasn’t always been easy to enjoy these theatrical performances. Times have changed since ancient Athenian theater, however, that’s not to say modern-day conventions weren’t greatly influenced by their predecessors.

Taking a step back in time, the ancient Athenian theatre’s history began around the 6th century BCE with the Festival of Dionysus. Ancient Athenians held many of their performances at the Great Dionysia theater, in honor of their god Dionysia, the Olympian god of wine, vegetation, and pleasure. The plays generally fell into one of these categories: comedy, tragedy, or satire. Comedy included base, and vulgar humor, while tragic plays were about more serious matters than their comedic counterparts. Satirical plays existed as a compromise between the two and dealt with the same theme of tragic plays, but presented them in a comical manner. The plays back then often dealt with the interference of the gods in human life and society. 21st-century theatre is secular to appeal to all people as we live in a multicultural society with different beliefs. There are dramas that don’t conform to any ideas, such as political, social dramas, and absurdist dramas. The variety in plays and dramas is much more wide range with themes and conflicts involving human issues much more often. Humans often cause their own struggles and resolve the issues compared to the old-style dramatizations, with divine beings that would commonly create and/or settle the contention. Modern theatre, however, still draws many elements from the past, we still have comedy, tragedy, and satire, although often combined, in present movies, television shows, and dramatic performances. In addition, the modern symbol of drama, a smiling comedic mask and a weeping tragic mask, stems from comedies and tragedies.

Theatres in Ancient Greece were known to be large open-air structures built on hill slopes. The theatre comprised three main elements: orchestra, skene, and audience. The orchestra, known as the ‘dancing place’, was the stage for plays, dancing, religious rites, and acting. The scene was backstage for performers and actors to change masks and costumes. At first, it started as a tent/hut before being converted into a permanent stone structure behind the orchestra. Tickets were also used to enter the theatre and were made of ivory. 21st-century theaters are modeled after Greek amphitheaters and still employ the same elements (orchestra, skene, audience, ticket system) to achieve their nearly flawless acoustics. However, theaters tend to be much smaller than their ancient Greek counterparts and are usually enclosed and indoors. The Dionysus, for example, could hold over 14000 people, a sharp contrast to today where the average theatre holds approximately one thousand people. This most likely stems from the fact that there are many more theatres today than in Ancient Greece, therefore, there is a greater amount of choice and variety.

Producers in ancient Greece often faced many limitations they had to deal with. Lighting effects were impossible unless perhaps the play was shown at a specific time of day. Changes in scenery were extremely scarce, and there were usually at most four scenes. The size of the theatre also posed a problem, the distance from the front of the stage to the back rows was about 300 feet. This meant an actor who measured 6 feet would have looked about half the size to the spectators in the back rows (they compensated with exaggerated acting and voice production). Today, many of us take special effects for granted, a luxury the ancient Athenians could not enjoy. Advancements in technology have allowed many of the limitations the producers often faced back in the day to be non-existent. Stage lighting and special effects such as dimmers, lasers, and fog machines help create the atmosphere of scenes and day/night cycles. Directors and production teams can now simply look up sound effects to download and use, whereas previously sound effects could take days to produce. Sound capturing devices like microphones allow sound production to be refined and broadcast throughout the theatre, whereas before they had to rely on the theatre’s design alone. Technology has helped define what theatre is today, in the 21st century, and now makes up a significant portion of the performance.

In conclusion, there are many similarities and differences between modern and ancient theatre. While today’s plays often serve different reasoning and purpose, common types such as comedies, tragedies, and satires are prevalent to this day. Design-wise, theatres remain mostly unchanged, with the only difference being indoors and much smaller. Finally, technology has helped reshaped theatre and let us bypass the many limitations that plagued ancient theatre. In the end, ancient Athenians have helped shaped 21st-century theatre and its different aspects in numerous ways.